The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 1606 - 44: The True Trail Blazers Playstyle
When the body’s adrenaline is released in large quantities, muscles enter a state of high tension.
At this time, the body will tremble slightly, breathing becomes rapid, the head flushes with blood, the throat tickles, and concentration is highly focused.
Some people even experience enhanced vision, with their gaze becoming extremely focused, as the increased neural reactions create a "slowed down" perception of what they see.
This is the body’s instinctive response to moments of danger and tension, a shot of adrenaline that ancient human ancestors experienced when confronting beasts and fights in the wild.
Of course, sometimes an excess of adrenaline can have a counterproductive effect, leading to excessive nervousness and causing people to act in bizarre ways.
For instance, when Kobe debuted on the NBA court, he ran to the wrong basket, almost making his first career shot an own goal.
At that time, his adrenaline was excessively high, his nerves over the top, and his mind was in chaos, resulting in a big joke.
However, for a veteran like Gan Guoyang, most games no longer excite him enough to trigger a massive hormone release.
No matter how much he loves basketball, the long encounters of the regular season are just a job to him.
His duty is to invest diligently every night, experiencing fun while providing entertainment for the audience.
Only in the playoffs, with its cruel eliminations and battles, can Gan Guoyang find more joy and a hint of excitement.
But this year’s playoffs have been too smooth for the Trail Blazers, who haven’t encountered any resistance from the first round to the Western Conference Finals.
As soon as they exerted a little force, opponents couldn’t withstand it, even the tough Utah Jazz, who were powerless due to roster and playstyle mismatches.
This made Gan Guoyang’s revenge seem dull; indeed, when the team’s strength is too overwhelming, victory loses much of its fun.
In his memory of championships, 1986 and 1992 hold irreplaceable profound impressions.
was the first title, won with considerable difficulty, with the West Finals pushing them to the brink, and the Finals were also extraordinarily tough.
was the second of three consecutive difficult championships, triumphing over Jordan for the second time in the Finals with personal explosion and a bit of luck.
By comparison, playing the Bullets in 1988 and the Pistons in 1990 left fewer memorable moments on the court.
What was left from playing the Pistons was more the impression of fights rather than basketball.
Before this Finals, people were overwhelmingly in favor of the Trail Blazers.
After all, the Trail Blazers had overwhelming strength, to the extent that many years later, basketball professionals were still seriously studying the 1998 Trail Blazers to draw nourishment and improve their offensive systems.
They indeed left so much worth chewing and learning.
In this aspect, the Trail Blazers were way ahead, at least twenty years ahead of other teams.
By comparison, the Bulls’ Triangle Offense was discarded after more than a decade.
Of course, its many ideas and structures were integrated into many positional offensive systems.
But the Trail Blazers’ style was more aligned with Dr. Naismith’s concept of "ultimate basketball," a strategy capable of initiating offense from anywhere on the court.
In comparison, the Triangle Offense still fell into the rut of routine.
Suppressive tactics and systems made the game look less suspenseful.
But Gan Guoyang knew at heart, as long as Michael Jordan was present, one couldn’t relax.
Moreover, Gan Guoyang hopes to use this series to provide a conclusive verdict on "who is the better basketball player."
He not only wants to win but to win beautifully, not giving future generations excuses like "Jordan won in stats and performance but lost in championships."
No, such a situation won’t occur; if we’re winning, we’re winning all the way. Michael will certainly perform very well, but I will definitely be better.
This strong desire makes Gan Guoyang excited and trembling; he has no interest in defeating crybaby Karl Malone.
Jordan’s thoughts are similar to Gan Guoyang’s; he’s mobilizing all his body’s energy, his heart beating faster.
Luke Longley and Sabonis are jumping ball at the center circle, Bill Walton once again joins his longtime partner to commentate on this world-renowned battle.
The jump ball between two white centers sees the ball hit back and forth on their fingertips, finally being pushed into Chris Mullin’s hands.
Mullin immediately dribbles past half-court, rushing towards the inside, directly attempting a layup with his left hand but being disrupted by Pippen.
But Gan Guoyang comes up from behind to follow through with a putback, pushing Kukoc aside with his left hand, jumping high, and dunking the ball into the basket with his right hand!
The Rose Garden Arena erupts in the night’s first roar, Trail Blazers’ pace in scoring is very fast from the start. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
The Bulls are obviously feeling unadapted, as throughout the Eastern playoffs, no one started with fast play.
The dominant style at the time was to grind positional play against each other, slowly crossing half-court, cautiously passing, and playing steadily.
Most strong playoff teams adhered to the strategy of "building strong fortresses, fighting dull battles," first solidifying defense, attacking with about 20 seconds on the shot clock.
Trail Blazers are the exception; from regular season to playoffs, they adopt an offensive basketball style, a refreshing stream and a flame in the league.
The Bulls don’t compete with the Trail Blazers in fast offense but slow the rhythm, Harper slowly controls the ball past the half-court, and their triangle offense starts operating.
